Iran says detains sabotage cell linked to exiled opposition

TEHRAN: Iran has arrested three members of a suspected sabotage cell linked to the exiled opposition for attempting to disrupt public order, Iranian media reported Tuesday.

The suspects, who are allegedly linked to banned former rebel group the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran (MEK), were detained by the Revolutionary Guard in the county of Pakdasht, southeast of Tehran, the ISNA news agency said.

“Three members of MEK-linked sabotage cells who sought to disrupt public order and security were identified and arrested,” prosecutor Mohammad Hassanpour told ISNA.

He accused the MEK of using underground propaganda networks to recruit individuals to form “sabotage cells” aimed at disrupting public order.

Security forces dismantled the cell and arrested all its members, he added.

Hassanpour said the suspects were undergoing “specialised interrogation” and the investigation was ongoing.

Their arrest comes after the execution late last month of two alleged long-term members of the group.

They had been found guilty of producing improvised mortars to attack civilians, homes and public institutions.

Founded in the 1960s to oppose the Western-backed shah, the MEK was outlawed after the Islamic revolution of 1979 for fighting alongside Saddam Hussein’s troops in the Iran-Iraq war.

Disarmed by a US-led coalition following its invasion of Iraq in 2003, the group now advocates a change in Iran’s system from abroad.

In recent weeks, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the group of seeking to foment “unrest” with the aim of toppling the system during Israel’s June 13 attack, which triggered a 12-day war with Iran.